“While disinformation, fake news, and propaganda have been around since the beginning of time, today, new technologies are helping it proliferate online, often drowning out responsible voices. Nowhere is this truer than in Ukraine.

Bot technology, which was developed in the earliest years of the internet, has more recently been put to nefarious uses. Unscrupulous actors are using social media algorithms to raise the popularity of particular kinds of inflammatory content and to spread propaganda.

For more than a decade, former Soviet bloc countries have played an important and disturbing role in developing bot and troll farms. Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainians, many working for the Russian Federal Security Service, have launched well-functioning bot factories, creating chaos, distractions, anger, and fear via numerous disinformation streams that now pose an integral challenge everywhere, in countries as different as Venezuela, Colombia, the United States, and the U.K. - not just in Ukraine.

This is how it works. We are spending more and more time online, reading posts, watching videos, and consuming more information than ever. We share them with our friends and tweet about them. Many people rely on social media for all their news. In this way we have created entirely new information ecosystems outside the traditional systems that include fact-checking procedures.

Bots pretend to be a person online. They take advantage of our already established social media networks and spread like wildfire on them, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and instant messaging apps. The messages they push out are simple, precise, unambiguous, and convey a single thought. They are calibrated to produce the strongest emotions possible and elicit fear and confusion, creating havoc and causing considerable psychic damage to each of us, our loved ones, and people all over our country.

After Zelenskyy became president, it didn’t take long for him to understand how dangerous these bot farms are and the peril they posed to Ukraine: “These are the challenges of today, and we must be prepared for them,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine in February 2020. “In Ukraine, this is now a real business, a very serious business. Bot farms are a problem, whatever they are: for white or black, there is no difference. Because those who stand up for good, such as Ukraine’s independence, in social media today may be against it tomorrow. Therefore, we must fight against such things. For the independence of the country, the independence of the individual, human rights must be fought in any way.”

At that moment, Zelenskyy was speaking more broadly, meaning that not only Ukrainians but the whole world must learn to distinguish the line where freedom of speech ends and disinformation begins. To me, it seemed a very crucial point, because if we cannot decide on what is allowed on social media now, we will be unable to deal with even greater challenges in the future.

Bot farms were used to supplement and reinforce the methods used on the oligarch-owned television networks. They helped amplify the message of pro-Russian puppets brought to power by Moscow in different countries, influencing their politics and media. For Russia, the internet has been an important source of contemporary propaganda, and its use of the internet is analogous to the methods the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebels developed in the 1930s on the radio and in newspapers. As he once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Nonsense remains nonsense in the singular. But when someone sends hundreds and thousands of nonsensical posts and commentaries to people’s phones and computer screens, people begin to believe what they see.

Here is but one outrageous example in Ukrainian media: to undermine government land reform policies, an endless number of absurd stories appeared about Chinese people digging up and shipping out the famously fertile Ukrainian soil. The usual chauvinistic and racist Russian-style propaganda outlets promulgated and published these stories. Their purpose was to create doubt about these needed land reform measures – such as lifting the moratorium on the sale of Ukraine’s agricultural land and investing in irrigation systems – which would help rid the agricultural sector of fraud and abuse and boost Ukraine’s economy. In the same vein, other stories trumpeted that Zelenskyy was a pro-Russian president or controlled by oligarchs – anything that could undermine people’s trust in him. By repeating such garbage over and over again, some were seeking political dividends. This fake news contributed to an oppressive political atmosphere and increased Ukrainians’ disenchantment with their institutions.”

Iuliia Mendel, The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World

Source:

about rudenko's biography, what is the "mendel affair"? i've heard it before but never understood what is it about.

Iuliia Mendel was accussed by the press of having an affair with Zelenskyy. She was his press secretary and by the nature of this job, they worked a lot together. During summer 2020 she was also accussed of being pregnant from Zelenskyy.

Of course, it was all rubbish and just rumours and gossip.

But the press went crazy about it. For example, there are two photos of him sitting in a chair and she's standing behind that chair, putting a hand on the lean.

And these photos caused a big ass scandal.

Basically no matter what they did (or didn't to) together, it caused a scandal. And the press was like "See!!!! She's having an affair with him!!!"

PUTIN SE SMIJE U LICE SUDU U HAAGU! Nemilosrdno trlja Ukrajini sol na ranu: Pojavio se u simbolu krvavog otpora

Ruski predsjednik Vladimir Putin nenadano je posjetio Mariupolj, ukrajinski grad pod ruskom okupacijom, u očito prkosnom potezu o kojem se izvješćuje samo nekoliko dana nakon što je Međunarodni kazneni sud izdao nalog za njegovo uhićenje, piše CNN. Putin je u Mariupolj sletio helikopterom i obišao je četvrti oko grada u automobilu koji je navodno sam vozio, prema ruskoj državnoj novinskoj agenciji RIA Novosti.   If I can’t go to Germany,than at least will go to annexed & destroyed Mariupol,putin thought. However,not sure from this video where he is. 🇷🇺propaganda shared the putin’s administration video saying he visited Mariupol. Earlier,Germany said they would arrest putin if he comes pic.twitter.com/v0sYUImnPl — Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) March 19, 2023       Rečeno je da se ruski čelnik zaustavio kako bi razgovarao sa stanovnicima gradske četvrti Nevsky i ustvrdio da je pozvan u dom jednog od stanovnika. Nije jasno kada je do posjeta došlo. Putin visits occupied Mariupol in a show of bravado in a city Russia invaded and destroyed https://t.co/sdyHPMyYWH — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 19, 2023   Vijest o posjetu dolazi nakon što je Međunarodni kazneni sud u petak izdao naloge za uhićenje Putina i ruske dužnosnice Marije Lvove-Belove zbog navodnog organiziranog deportiranja ukrajinske djece u Rusiju. Posjet će Ukrajincima vjerojatno biti posebno provokativan budući da je Mariupolj dugo bio simbol otpora te u kojem su se vodile neke od najstrašnijih borni otkako je Rusija pokrenula invaziju u veljači prošle godine. RIA Novosti izvještavaju da je Putin također obišao obalu Mariupolja, posjetivši jahtaški klub i zgradu kazališta. Zamjenik ruskog premijera Marat Khusnullin detaljno je razgovarao s Putinom o “tekućim građevinskim i restauratorskim radovima” u gradu. Mariupolj, lučki grad na Azovskom moru, nalazi se u Donjeckoj oblasti Ukrajine i pod izravnom je kontrolom Rusije od svibnja 2022. Upravo su u Mariupolju ruske snage izvele neke od svojih najjačih napada, pri čemu se spominje gađanje rodilišta i kazališta. Mariupolj je postao simbol ukrajinskog otpora tijekom višetjednih nemilosrdnih ruskih napada prošle godine. Poznato je da su čak i kad je veći dio grada pao, njegovi branitelji izdržali u željezari Azovstal prije no što je utvrda pala. Od 450.000 ljudi koji su u gradu živjeli prije rata, više od trećine ga je već napustilo. Dnevno.hr Foto : Kremlin POOL Read the full article

We spoke to Iuliia Mendel in Kyiv, a former spokesperson to president Zelenskyy and the author of The Fight of our Lives.

Des explosions ont été entendues sur la base aérienne russe d'Engels à des centaines de kilomètres des lignes de front en Ukraine, ont rapporté les médias ukrainiens et russes tôt lundi. L'agence de presse RBC-Ukraine a rapporté que deux explosions ont eu lieu. Le média russe Baza, citant des résidents locaux, a déclaré que les sirènes des raids aériens hurlaient et qu'une explosion avait été entendue. Le Guardian n'a pas été en mesure de vérifier immédiatement les informations. La base aérienne, près de la ville de Saratov, est à environ 730 km (450 miles) au sud-est de Moscou. Vladimir Poutine a déclaré que l'Occident tentait de "déchirer" la Russie et a affirmé que son offensive en Ukraine visait à "unir le peuple russe". Dans une interview diffusée à la télévision nationale, Poutine a déclaré que les « opposants géopolitiques de la Russie [were] visant à déchirer la Russie, la Russie historique… Diviser pour régner, c'est ce qu'ils ont toujours cherché à accomplir et cherchent toujours à faire », a ajouté Poutine. "Mais notre objectif est différent : c'est d'unir le peuple russe." Poutine a affirmé que la Russie était prête à négocier avec toutes les parties impliquées dans la guerre en Ukraine, tout en accusant Kyiv et ses alliés occidentaux de « refuser » de négocier. Kyiv et ses alliés soupçonnent que les affirmations de Poutine sont un stratagème pour gagner du temps après une série de défaites et de retraites russes sur le champ de bataille. Le conseiller présidentiel ukrainien Mykhailo Podolyak a déclaré que Poutine "doit revenir à la réalité" après que le dirigeant russe a affirmé que Moscou était prêt pour les négociations. Il est "évident" que la Russie "ne veut pas de négociations, mais essaie d'éviter toute responsabilité", a tweeté Podolyak. Des alertes de raid aérien ont retenti dimanche à Kyiv et dans la majeure partie de l'Ukraine. Les autorités ont donné le feu vert et il n'y a eu aucun rapport immédiat d'attaques russes. Des informations non confirmées sur les réseaux sociaux ukrainiens suggèrent que les sirènes ont peut-être été déclenchées après que des avions russes se sont envolés en Biélorussie. Le gouverneur ukrainien de Kherson a lancé un appel au don de sang après que 16 personnes ont été tuées lorsque des bombardements russes ont frappé le sud région samedi. Yaroslav Yanushevych a déclaré que les forces russes "ont ouvert le feu sur la région de Kherson 71 fois" avec de l'artillerie, des lance-roquettes multiples et des mortiers. Iuliia Mendel, une ancienne porte-parole présidentielle ukrainienne, a partagé des photos de personnes attendant de donner du sang à Kherson. Trois secouristes ukrainiens sont morts lorsqu'une mine a explosé alors qu'ils déminaient des parties de la région de Kherson. "Tous les trois ont servi de manière désintéressée … et ont accompli la tâche de déminage des territoires libérés de l'ennemi dans la région de Kherson", a déclaré le service d'urgence de Jytomyr sur sa page Facebook. Selon des analystes, le rythme d'avancée des forces russes dans la région de Bakhmut, dans l'est de l'Ukraine, a probablement ralenti ces derniers jours. Dans sa dernière mise à jour, le groupe de réflexion américain Institute for the Study of War (ISW) a cité un blogueur militaire russe disant que les forces ukrainiennes avaient repoussé des éléments de la société mercenaire privée russe du groupe Wagner aux postes qu'ils occupaient il y a quelques jours. Le président Volodymyr Zelenskiy a utilisé sa dernière allocution vidéo pour dire que les Ukrainiens créeraient leur miracle de Noël en restant insoumis, malgré les attaques russes qui ont laissé des millions de personnes sans électricité. S'exprimant 10 mois jour pour jour après l'invasion de la Russie, Zelenskiy a déclaré que si la liberté avait un prix élevé, l'esclavage coûterait plus cher. Moscou serait prêt à reprendre l'approvisionnement en gaz de l'Europe via le gazoduc Yamal-Europe. "Le marché européen

reste pertinent, car la pénurie de gaz persiste, et nous avons toutes les chances de reprendre l'approvisionnement", a déclaré dimanche le média russe Tass, citant le vice-Premier ministre russe Alexander Novak. Le parlement russe se prépare à introduire un taux d'imposition plus élevé pour les personnes qui ont quitté le pays, comme beaucoup l'ont fait depuis le début de la guerre en Ukraine. Certains médias locaux ont rapporté que jusqu'à 700 000 personnes ont fui après l'annonce d'une campagne de mobilisation pour appeler de nouvelles troupes pour rejoindre le combat en septembre. Le gouvernement a rejeté ce chiffre à l'époque. Le ministre chinois des Affaires étrangères a défendu la position de son pays sur la guerre en Ukraine et a indiqué que Pékin approfondira ses liens avec Moscou dans l'année à venir. La Chine « approfondira la confiance mutuelle stratégique et la coopération mutuellement bénéfique » avec la Russie, a déclaré Wang Yi dans une allocution vidéo. Justin Welby, l'archevêque de Cantorbéry, et le pape François ont utilisé leurs discours de Noël pour appeler à la fin de la guerre en Ukraine. Condamnant l'utilisation de la nourriture comme arme de guerre, le pape a déclaré que la guerre en Ukraine et les conflits dans d'autres pays avaient mis des millions de personnes en danger de famine.

JRL NEWSWATCH: "Every Ukrainian knows both patriots and collaborators" - Washington Post/ Iuliia Mendel

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Every Ukrainian knows both patriots and collaborators” – Washington Post/ Iuliia Mendel

“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Ukraine has finally liberated my hometown of Kherson. Yet there are still countless problems ahead. The city has no water, gas or electricity. People are hungry and cold. And then there are the moral and political problems — such as alleged collaborators. … I’ve never doubted that most people in Kherson are loyal to Kyiv. But there have been many collaborators —…

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In the video archive of President Zelenskyy’s press office, there were some extremely interesting clips that hadn’t ever appeared in public. We decided to preserve them: first, because the press office should keep everything, and second, because for us these video clips were filled with pleasant and amusing moments. In one, President Zelenskyy was chatting with two elderly priests when the videographer recording their interaction broke a vase. We couldn’t see the vase in the frame, but we could hear that he knocked something over and the object fell and broke. The old men looked at the videographer with surprise and indignation, but the president walked over to the broken object, bent down, and picked up the fragments. It was one of those moments when we saw the president’s common decency and simplicity – very important aspects of his character. And we laughed because the videographer, whose name was Vova, short of Volodymyr – the same nickname and name as the president’s – was carefully filming the entire time as the president bent down and gathered up all the fragments. Vova, of course, never thought to pick them up himself. There was another video, shot by the same videographer, from the front lines in Donbas. In February 2021, Zelenskyy traveled to Donbas with six foreign diplomats. Anka Feldhusen, the German ambassador to Ukraine, was having trouble fastening her helmet’s chin strap. The president noticed this and began to help her with it. I sent that short, sweet fourteen-second video to Anka. But there are other moments recorded only in our memory: For example, when we set out on one of our first trips to the provinces. It was like accompanying a rock star. So many people rushed over to see Zelenskyy, to join him as he walked, and, even better, to take selfies with him. They surrounded us in a tight circle, now and then shouting out the president’s first name or squealing with joy. Our security team struggled as the crowd pressed in to get a look. In the midst of the crowd was a young mother with a little girl, and she was struggling to lift her up. The crowd, shoving and pushing, was pressing in hard against the child. The frightened mother was at a loss. I was trying to protect the child, who had begun to cry. Zelenskyy heard her cries and turned back. He spotted the little girl, walked over to her, and gestured to the crowd to back off, and his security detail helped out. He squatted next to the crying child and tried to calm her. The crowd stopped shoving, and the mother asked for a selfie to remember the moment. I mention these trivial incidents only because seeing Zelenskyy in action, knowing his values and the way he views the world, made some of the characterizations of him seem ludicrous. They were, in fact, political attacks by his opponents attempting to demean him as a politician, constructing an alternative image of him online – as a coward, an arrogant jerk, or a fool.

Iuliia Mendel, The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World

手臂環摟臉貼耳 社媒熱議馬克宏摟澤倫斯基照片

烏克蘭人看到照片熱烈討論。澤倫斯基的前發言人蒙德爾（Iuliia Mendel）在推特上貼出這張馬克宏與澤倫斯基相見歡的照片，還拿馬克宏今年2月訪問俄羅斯時，與俄國總統普丁（Vladimir Putin）隔著長桌相望的照片對照，說這就是「歐盟和烏克蘭、歐盟和俄羅斯間的距離差別」。

烏克蘭國會議員瓦西連科（Lesia Vasylenko）也在推特放上這張哥兒們相擁照，寫道「今天過後，烏克蘭肯定將取得歐盟候選人地位」。「烏克蘭新聲」（New Voice of Ukraine）特約編輯麥唐納（Euan MacDonald）對這張照片下的註解是，馬克宏悄聲告訴澤倫斯基「我為烏克蘭所做的一切」。

但英國「每日郵報」（Daily Mail）卻別有看法，覺得馬克宏的擁抱，讓澤倫斯基看起來有點尷尬，還說當西裝筆挺的馬克宏環臂相摟時，澤倫斯基表情看起來好像他寧願在北頓內茨克（Severodonetsk）的戰壕裡作戰。

社媒新聞推特Real Mac Report則開玩笑稱「這是馬克宏在澤倫斯基耳畔法式親吻嗎？」

She’s right

Zelensky's Ex-Press Secretary Explains Why He's a Good War-Time Leader

Zelensky’s Ex-Press Secretary Explains Why He’s a Good War-Time Leader

Volodymyr Zelensky’s former press secretary says the guy’s a good leader during war for a couple of reasons  — including the fact he’s a legal eagle. We talked to Iuliia Mendel Monday — who served as the Ukrainian President’s spokesperson… from TMZ.com https://www.tmz.com/2022/03/21/press-secretary-iuliia-mendel-president-zelensky-ukraine-war-time-leader/

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Former Spokesperson Iuliia Mendel Calls Ukrainian President 'The Most Devoted Person I've Ever Known'           March 19, 2022

"He is the most devoted person I've ever known. He never gives up," she says. "I think his strength and courage have come as a surprise to the world, but not to me. I think people in the West thought of him as a comedian, but his background is actually as a lawyer.

Zelenskyy — who ran with no party affiliation and no clear team of expert advisers until days before the election — attended no in-person campaign events and held no rallies, instead turning to social media to make a name for himself.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.”

READ MORE https://people.com/politics/ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-former-spokesperson-speaks-out-president/

Considering that all the other Ukrainian television channels were still in the hands of the oligarchs, Zelenskyy risked a lot, standing against a corrupt Ukrainian political system that, notwithstanding his decisive actions, might well have eaten him alive. In 2021, this was exactly what occurred with Akhmetov’s TV channels. The richest of all the Ukrainian oligarchs had strongly opposed the presidential law on de-oligarchization, and when it was enacted, Akhmetov’s TV channels exploded with attacks, some completely untrue, and the rest without much concern for journalistic ethics or balance. Only the Russian invasion stopped this bacchanalia of invenctive.

Iuliia Mendel, The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World